Are you amazed by grace?

What is grace to you? We use this term a lot in church land, but do we know the weighty implications that nestle down behind this loaded word. Do we use grace in our church lingo with an attempt to stay culturally (church culture) relevant or is it that we are still trying to wrap our minds around the very notion of God's grace, therefore grace is foreign? The impact of grace, although it was given, was not something that I thought a great deal about until a couple of years ago. The very idea that God being pure, precious and perfect would provide me, a sinning, God hating, self-centered and self-righteous black hole with light and life is beyond all I could ever comprehend. Its the grace that God imparts that saves us (by grace you've been saved) from our hell-bound wayward lives. God only knows why he would cover His saints in the warm, comforting blanket of His gracious love and rescue His children like a fireman would rescue his family from a burning home. 

Is grace only experienced by the Saints of God? In the words of the Apostle Paul, "may it never be!" You see, God extends grace to the most vile of sinners. God has extended grace to Adolf Hitler while mercilessly massacring hundreds of thousands of Jews. God gave grace to Bobby Joe Long the notorious rapist and to Jeffery Dahlmer the infamous serial killer. As striking or absurd as this may sound, I implore you to answer one question; is it not gracious that God would allow individuals like that to live a single moment a part from a well-deserved, inevitable eternity in hell (assuming they died unregenerate)? Of course its gracious. It may not be saving grace, but its grace none-the-less. 

What do you think? What does grace mean to you? Has grace changed you from the inside out or have you yet to realize the magnitude of such an impartation? Let me know.

Alan